Menstrual cycle, nutrition and training

A deep dive into the science of the menstrual cycle, nutrition, and exercise. Evidence-based chats on hormones, training, and fuelling your body right!

We cover: 

• 3:00 Underrepresentation of females in the scientific literature 
• 6:00 Why a narrative review on dietary energy intake across the menstrual cycle was completed
• 7:15 Description of the evidence-base on the effect of the menstrual cycle phase on energy intake
• 9:10 Phases of the menstrual cycle
• 11:05 The effect of the menstrual cycle phase on energy intake
• 14:00 The effect of certain foods and macronutrients across the menstrual cycle 
• 17:00 Any other interesting pieces of research since the 2023 narrative review 
• 18:35 What else could be driving the increase/decrease of energy across the menstrual cycle?
• 19:10 Effect of the menstrual cycle phase on exercise performance and physiology
• 22:00 Katherine’s key message for women
• 24:00 Katherine’s thoughts on some of Dr Stacy Sims messages 
• 29:15 Does timing of post-workout snack/meal matter? 
• 32:00 Training across the menstrual cycle 
• 35:00 How will this field of research progress over the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years! 

One-liners you don’t want to miss:

"That second half I guess you could say, of the menstrual cycle after ovulation, energy intake is higher and there seems to be a little bit more of a consistent pattern, that energy intakes higher in that luteal phase than in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle.”

“Try and have the unprocessed foods - fruits and vegetables, so basically increasing your micronutrient intake (your minerals and vitamins) could help alleviate some of those symptoms that might get around menstruation.”